Gretna Green

PRONUNCIATION:

(GRET-nuh green)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A place where couples elope to to get married.
2. Such a wedding.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Gretna Green, a village in Scotland on the English border. English
couples who had not reached the age of majority eloped to Gretna Green
where such a wedding was permitted. A wedding was typically performed
by a blacksmith in his shop. Earliest documented use: 1813.

USAGE:

"They finished up with a Gretna Green elopement of a couple in a terrible
old Model T Ford, with Father chasing after them all over the aerodrome."
Nevil Shute; Round the Bend; William Morrow; 1951.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

At least half the mystery novels published violate the law that the solution, once revealed, must seem to be inevitable. -Raymond Chandler, writer (1888-1959)